Melody
by Blu Rose
Summary: AU ONESHOT. N x Lyra,SopranoShipping.One-sided FerriswheelShipping. Her song took him away from the harshness of reality that was his marriage.


SopranoShipping, named for the highest of standard singing voices. I'll go ahead and guess that this was named for Lyra being named after the lyre instrument and how everyone initially assumed Harmonia, which sounds like harmony (as in music), was N's last name.

Either way, this fic is very odd as I'm not sure what I should classify the main pairing of this fic as. SopranoShipping is one of them, but it's one-sided and brief, as is HeartSoulShipping. To call it a FerriswheelShipping fic feels off because that's not what I was going for… Oh, well. I hope you'll enjoy this nonetheless. I was inspired by a movie named **The Leech Woman** that I saw on an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000.

_Summary: Her song took him away from the harshness of reality that was his marriage. One-sided SopranoShipping (N & Lyra) with HeartSoulShipping (Ethan & Lyra) and attempted FerriswheelShipping (N & Hilda)._

_Disclaimer: I don't own the Pokémon series or its characters. I just like coming up with stories with them._

**X-X-X**

Their marriage wasn't a happy one, N knew. His father may have never been taught him about how love played into marriage, but he knew from the books he'd read that it was something that took time. But theirs was an arranged marriage, where time together—or even knowing one another beyond a name meant nothing compared to what their marrying each other meant financially. In fact, it wasn't even a marriage—it was merely an odd way to conduct a merger. Hilda only married him to have some say-so in the running of her family's company after its hostile takeover and reformation to fit his needs. She held no love for the Harmonia family—N included as he was the figurehead of Plasma Inc., and he didn't love her at first sight either, but he would _try_ to make it work. He was positive that maybe they would learn to love each other, as Anthea and Concordia said.

Such as tonight. They would be going to a musical together, a suggestion of his father's, but N knew better than to tell Hilda this as the last time they did something at his suggestion, she was made to wear a distastefully skimpy dress to a costume party and took her aggression out on N. She said nothing to him on the way to the theater, although he tried to break the ice: "You look lovely tonight," "Did you buy that dress recently?", "Are you looking forward to this?" all met with soft mumbles and shakes of the head.

They sat high up in the balcony seats with a view of the stage and the show began. It was about a woman whose love for her husband was unrequited, as he had grown bored of her over the years, and the things she had done to regain his affection: she tried to change her appearance with surgery, she tried to be a perfect housewife, and even robbed her place of work so she could get enough money for the things he wanted. But in the end, despite all she had done and given up for him, he still insisted on sleeping around with other women and the woman killed her husband before committing suicide.

Despite the tragedy of it all, N found himself attracted to the female lead's character. Her plight matched his own inability to please the one he wished would love him back…though he doubted Hilda would be one to break the sanctity of their marriage and cheat and that he would be so grief-stricken that he would kill her and the one she loved. The one who played the wife was a beautiful brunette with a lovely voice. The way she sang her final song after murdering her husband and his mistress, the sorrow in her voice and the pain in her eyes as she sobbed that she had no worth…it may sound wrong for a married man, but N wished he could take her in his arms, run his hands through her silky brown hair and wipe the tears from her eyes and tell her she did nothing wrong, that she was perfect the way she was before. It _should_ have been Hilda he imagined doing this to, but a part of his subconscious seemed to realize faster than he would that the chances of Hilda loving him were slim to none.

But _her_… Her song took him away from the harshness of reality. In his little pretend world, he imagined that the two of them would run off together, leaving behind hateful wives and unloving husbands and their mistresses, free to act as they want to without aggression towards them for how they were born and raised. Just the two of them, free to be themselves and to love and be loved in return.

"Hey. What are you staring at?" The sound of Hilda's voice snapped N out of his delightful reverie.

The show was over. The curtains had closed upon the stage and most of the audience had left the theater. "…Nothing. Just thinking."

They left the balcony and entered the lobby where the stars had gathered. The theater patrons were asking for autographs and showering praises on the cast. N stopped for a moment to stare at the one who played the female lead, now out of her costume and back to looking like the cute, normal young woman her character was in the play. He almost stepped over to her with a desire to talk to her, but…

"Lyra!" A dark-haired young man pulled her aside, smiling warmly. "You did great tonight!" He gave her a kiss on the cheek, making the woman named Lyra blush.

"Thanks, Ethan… I was pretty nervous until I saw you in the crowd. Thanks for being here."

"No sweat. I'll always be there when you need me."

N found himself staring sadly at the loving exchange before he walked out of the lobby and out into the cold night air. The car had already pulled up to the curb with the chauffeur ready to open the door for him. Hilda was already inside, her body twisted so her back was facing him as she looked out the window. He barely heard the driver say good night as he climbed into the backseat and tried to settle back into their routine.

"Did you like the play?"

"I hate musicals."

"…Oh. I'll try to find entertainment more to your liking next time, dear." She said nothing in reply. N sighed and began to look out the window blankly. He soon found himself humming the unloved wife's last song from the play, retreating back into his world of pretend where it was only him and her—Lyra was her name, wasn't it?—free to be themselves, to love and be loved back. He may have been a married man now, but until Hilda truly returned his love, it wasn't cheating to just _imagine_ himself with another woman… Right?

**X-X-X**

**Remember to review.**


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